Time Lapse: This half a shipwrecked tavern became a 20th-century salon

By Sheila Lennon

Sunday

Mar 30, 2014 at 12:01 AM

This old Brown house is sadly gone. It was a famous place in its time, historic, connected both to the Brown family and to the Gaspee Affair. Where was it, and what can you find out about its fate?

This old Brown house is sadly gone. It was a famous place in its time, historic, with connections to both John Brown and the Gaspee Incident. Where was it, and what can you find out about its fate? There are no visual clues, but the real mystery here is "When was it taken down? Why?"

This photo was shot in 1931, and we can't find a mention of this house in our newspaper archives later than 1942.

As always, clicking the photo will enlarge it in a new tab or window.

Hazard a guess in comments and come back Sunday for tales of its storied past. If we're lucky, some readers may know what happened to this house, and will share that with us.

Updated Sunday:

[marianow]

We are at 17 Planet St. in Providence, between South Main and Benefit Streets. It's a parking lot whose wall and grafittied fence look similar to those that surrounded the house that was once there in our lead photo. We do not know when it was removed.

House on the move

Our 1931 story, below, tells of its early days as a Pawtuxet tavern, of which only the tiny bar remained, in use then as a china closet.

The genial little lady, Miss Maria P. Brown, who has lived her life in this quaint old house was very kind in telling me its story as she had heard it from her father many years ago. Here it is:

Just how old the house is, no one seems exactly to know, but "a long time ago, probably 200 years ago, it was built over near Pawtuxet Neck." There is another story that the house formerly stood on Prudence Island, but I am telling the story as Miss Brown told it to me. When her father was a young man,the man who owned the house, then an inn, owed a bill to him, and in payment thereof the old house started out on its trip (quite perilous, we must admit) up the Providence river on a scow.

One rather enjoys thinking of the creaks and groans of terror that the old house must have given as the scow twisted, turned, dipped and quivered on its journey. Half way up a tragedy occurred -- half of the old tavern fell into the river and could not be brought up. At this point in her tale, Miss Brown laughed heartily as she remarked, "My father always regretted the losing of that half, for we were a large family and that other half would have come in very handy."

The 1870 census shows ship broker W. Whipple Brown, 56, living there as a widower with six children ranging from 16 to 33 and an Irish servant. Maria Brown's obit, below, says there were nine in all.

We like commenter Alyce Burke's alt-version in which the sunken half survives and lands on India Street. Is there any evidence for that?

Read the entire story below:

[1931story]

Tucked into history

As sharp-eyed commenter Theodore Coleman noticed, the Brown house -- which was also the color brown -- is visible behind the Sabin Tavern in the classic photo below. I've enlarged the detail. [sabintavern][sabindetail]

The deaths of the Brown sisters who may have been its last inhabitants gave us obituaries that went beyond their own lives:

[brownobits]

May 24, 1942 sees the Journal's last mention of the Brown house, in a humorous context this time:

[funnyfacts]

What happened to this historic house?

But the mystery remains: What happened to the house? We asked City Archivist Paul Campbell for assistance.

He emailed, "Doing a quick search I find that the house was wood frame and the last occupant was Maria P. Brown. She was living there in 1933 and by 1935 the house was listed as vacant. The street number “17” disappears from the directories in 1938. In the 30s the property was owned by R.P. Brown, Jr. et. al.

"I also checked the 1956 Sanborn maps and it was a vacant lot then." He later added, "BTW, I did trace Browns (Whipple) as living in that house back to 1850. "

He'll be posting the photo of our house on the Providence City Archives Facebook page Monday, spreading the inquiry. It seems odd that no one noted the passing of such an historic building with Gaspee connections.

We don't think we see it in the murky photo in this 1952 story about Planet Street, which doesn't mention a house.

[1952planet]

Perhaps descendants of the Brown family might see this story, and respond. Should you know any of these folks, we'd be grateful if you'd pass it on to them.

More: The Gaspee Virtual Archives page on Abial Brown

On the road: The Providence Preservation Society has invited me to discuss the making of Time Lapse as part of their spring lecture series, and I have accepted. I'll be talking about "Yesterday's News" this Thursday, April 3 at 6 p.m. at the Governor Henry Lippitt House, 199 Hope Street in Providence. You can buy a ticket for $10 but I've been assured that anyone who'd like to come is welcome.

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